Introducing China in English (Part 2)

About This Course

Introducing China in English is designed to provide participants with a wide range of areas best defines Chinese culture. It is divided into three parts. Each
part is a stand-alone course.

Part Two presents a colorful picture of China with the following topics:

traditional Chinese wedding,

Cheongsam or Qipao,

paper cutting and

Chinese architecture.

In introduction to traditional Chinese wedding, we first focus on the stages of wedding including engagement, preparations, wedding ceremony and post-wedding
rituals, which is controlled by a set of rigid rites called “three letters and six rites”. Meanwhile, people’s sense of hierachy, views on life and folk customs are
represented in the process. Cheongsam or Qipao is a kind of traditional dress for women, yet still in fashion today. With the description of the development and design
of Cheongsam, we hope to give a glimpse of aesthetic interests and national characteristics of Chinese people. Chinese paper cutting has a long history from the
primitive to the modern society. We’ll explore the cultural connotations of the paper arts and crafts deeply rooted in Chinese philosophy and archelology for domestic
decoration, festivals, wedding ceremonies, etc. Chinese architecture will be exemplified by Forbidden City. With the explanation of the layout and structure of the
buildings and the cultural symbols there such as Fengshui, yin-yang, Eight Trigrams, Five Elements, number of lucky animals, etc., you will have a better understanding
of Chinese architecture.

Format

Introducing China in English (Part 2) is organiazed over 5 weeks with five units. Each unit contains short lecture videos with a quiz at the end.

Participants are encouraged to attend lectures, take a quiz each week and devote their sparkling ideas in Discussion.

Requirements

This course is open to all with no prerequisites. It is not necessary to learn the other two parts or one of them before learning this part.

Course Staff

LU Xiaoli

LU Xiaoli is an Associate Professor of the school of Foreign Languages, Hubei University. She received her M. A. from Hubei University in 2004. She has been
teaching for 14 years. Her devotion to teaching makes her a popular teacher among students. She had been to the UK as an academic visitor for 1 year. She actively
participated in activities organized by the Confucius Institute and introduced Chinese culture to the local people in the year when she was in the UK. She is
particularly interested in the culture of Chinese food and traditional wedding custom. Together with her team, she has been undertaking a research project about
Chinese Culture with 2 articles on the teaching of Chinese culture published. She teaches Unit 1 about traditional Chinese wedding.

WANG Ting

WANG Ting, Lecturer of the school of Foreign Languages, Hubei University. She is currently the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at S?o Paulo State
University in Brazil. She received her B.A. in English Education in 2003 and M.A. in British and American Literature in 2006, both from Hubei University. She has given
various courses including College English, English Writing, English Listening, Introducing China in English, etc. since 2003. She taught Chinese Language and Culture,
for two years, at the Confucius Institute at the University of Memphis in USA in 2011 and 2012. Ting WANG is the second translator of “The Man Booker Prize” winning
books Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She has also published the textbook New Art English 1. She is responsible for Unit 7 about Chinese Cheongsam and Unit 8 about
paper cutting. , Lecturer of the school of Foreign Languages, Hubei University. She is currently the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at S?o Paulo State
University in Brazil. She received her B.A. in English Education in 2003 and M.A. in British and American Literature in 2006, both from Hubei University. She has given
various courses including College English, English Writing, English Listening, Introducing China in English, etc. since 2003. She taught Chinese Language and Culture,
for two years, at the Confucius Institute at the University of Memphis in USA in 2011 and 2012. Ting WANG is the second translator of “The Man Booker Prize” winning
books Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She has also published the textbook New Art English 1. She is responsible for Unit 2 about Chinese Cheongsam and Unit 3 about
paper cutting.

WU Hong

WU Hong, Associate Professor of School of Foreign Languages, Hubei University.She received her B.A. from Hubei Univerisity in 1989 and M.A. in Linguistics for
English Language Teaching from Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages of Lancaster University, UK, in 2000. She is currently teaching College English,
Introducing China in English, and Academic English. Her research interest is intercultural communication. She has been well travelled around Europe and Asia, which
contributed a lot to her intercultural dimensions of her courses. 2011 saw her conduct a project entitled “The Integration of Chinese Culture into College English
Coursebooks”. 2013 saw her coteach the course Introducing China in English with her colleagues. Based on the course and the project the teaching group initiated a
MOOC programme in 2015. She is responsible for Unit 4 and Unit 5 about Chinese architecture.

This MOOC is provided under a cooperative agreement between FUN-MOOC and XuetangX

Producer

With more than eight decades of development, Hubei University is a key comprehensive university covering arts, science, engineering, economics, law, management,
medicine, etc., and wins the award entitled Top University in China for excellence in teaching, research and physical education, and remains for many years as holder
of the honour Best Provincial Institution.

Partner

Forum moderation

Created in 2014, Confucius Institute for Business (NCIB) is the first Confucius Institute dedicated to business in France. It aims to promote Chinese
language and culture to the general public alongside facilitating cooperation between French and Chinese companies throught business trainings and workshops